Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

MJ Kaufman shares insight on the necessity of trans voices being developed and acknowledged in diverse, multi-faceted, and complex narratives. 

Home is not a shared skin tone, language, religion, location, orientation, or political sensibility, though those all play a small role. It’s a sense of history, of being known thoroughly, not just for who you are, but for who you were and who you will be; not just the good, but also the occasionally ugly. It’s the place where people want the best for me, even as I sometimes drive them crazy. It’s the place where I'm not thinking about you or about me, but about us, the house, the whole thing.

In this installment, Mike Lew discusses the Ma-Yi Writers Lab, the fraught practice of yellow face, and what equity for people of color actually looks like.

Victor Maog examines the efforts of Asian American theatremakers to create spaces and push out meaningful narratives.

Zak Berkman offers insight into implementing diversity and inclusion as the Producing Director at People's Light.

Rebecca Stevens interviews playwright-poet Marcus Gardley on his impacts on the national performing arts community. 

Mark Jackson reports on the "format and the values" he witnessed in Romania at the Sibiu International Theatre Festival, which is the third largest theater festival in the world.

Director Guillermo Aviles-Rodriguez discusses his thoughts about the identity affinity groups at the 2014 TCG Conference, questioning how safe is a segregated space?

Playwright Gabriel Jason Dean and Director Lindsay Amer discuss "risky plays", queer characters and narratives, and young audiences.

Dani Snyder-Young writes about the 2014 Chicago Home Theater Festival, which places participatory performances inside private homes.

My hope is that for an issue as important as this one, we’ll all extend our collaborative impulses beyond the rehearsal room. (We’re not always so good at that.) Instead of working at cross purposes and duplicating each other’s efforts, let’s pool our resources and face facts together. We’ll be stronger for having worked side-by-side, don’t you think?

Jonathan Mandell offers his opinions on dviersity in theatre. 

Theater for students of color is needed in the University: to speak about these issues and at the same time to break the “Berkeley Bubble” by showing that issues students study about in their classes—including, race, class and gender—have a real impact on campus life.

Before college, I found myself in the stories of Shanley and Shepard—but now I was only getting cast in parts such as Mexican pregnant girl, homeless person, or getting included in all non-white casts. I am half Mexican and a quarter Lebanese, but that never mattered before. Growing up, white stories were reflected all around me so much that I thought I was white.

Karla Jennings provides insight into the benefits of blind submissions in playwriting.

Is there really no institution in 2014 that will sponsor an ongoing annual study of American women playwrights working in theater seasons around the country (and directors, producers, designers, for that matter)? What if there were a way to fund some sort of new national study, to formalize a precise methodology of what shows/seasons to count and when, and get an accurate assessment of what the gender equity percentages for women playwrights in the United States really are in 2014? If we can’t find an institution or university that will fund this (which seems a shame), is there a DIY way to organize an all-inclusive study that includes every region of the country? Can we pool our resources and do this?

Lily Janiak and Artistic Director of Cal Shakes Jon Moscone talk about the impact of Janiak’s criticism of the play American Night at California Shakespeare Theater and the controversy it stirred.

The term “collaborative” for me conjures up the idea of a loose group of artists with a shared Asian American identity and purpose, working together to produce a wide range of projects, from workshops, readings and short performances to full productions. If this process is successful, I believe it would be possible that within a three to five year period, there could be a significant Asian American presence in the Philadelphia theater community and a real demand for their work.